10.17.12 Our Brand New 7 Day Look - FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports

Incase you missed any of our newscasts on ABC 22 or Fox 44 on Wednesday evening, you missed something big! We premiered a brand new 7 day forecast which will be used daily in all of our newscasts, both morning and night. The new look will take a little getting used to, because it is very unique, but we think it will be great for our unique terrain here in northern NY, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

So here's the scoop... the "new 7 day" will feature both an extended outlook for areas where you and I live, just like always...but now will ALSO show the 7 day outlook for the mountains right on the same screen. Confused?...take a look at it (left, top graphic, click to enlarge). Here's how you should go about reading the new 7 day...

We will show a simple 7 day forecast, as per usual (yes, with a new, snazzy look!). This information is as it always was...an icon which summarizes the sensible weather (expected cloud cover and precipitation) region wide, as well as a high and low temperature forecast. (To clarify, there is only one number represented on the 7 day forecast. The number is subjective...there is only 1 number... so of course this will not encompass every town. (Don't worry, that's why we ALWAYS give you a town by town temperature forecast on our newscasts).  While we typically give a number representing  the Champlain Valley, the number is a good representation of our region most days within +/- 3 degrees for many locales.

Now, most everyone is quite aware that the temperature and conditions in the lower elevations can be drastically different from the mountains, right? Absolutely. Especially within our viewing area that covers all of northern NY, all of Vermont, and interior New Hampshire, as well as a chunk of southern Quebec. You have valleys and mountain "corduroying" that entire region. So clearly, there is some information missing on this 7 day. That's why NOW you will see an extended "mountain outlook". This will follow the same rules of giving you a "conditions icon", as well as forecast high temperature for the mountains.

 All of the meteorologists here at Fox 44 and ABC22 will be forecasting for over 2000' elevation for our  "mountain outlook". You will most likely see much cooler temperatures, and in some cases, that may mean the difference between rain and snow (or sleet or ice...). The purpose is to give you a good idea as to what kind of conditions you can expect on the mountains if, say you work seasonally on one of our area ski resorts, if you have to travel over some of our many mountain passes, or you just want to do some skiing or riding this winter. Winter recreation is *huge* in our region for both locals and tourists. It only seems right to give you the forecast for the mountains as well as the valleys.

So there you have it! The new, and improved 7 day forecast. We hope this brings you more awareness and useful information about the variety of local weather conditions you may encounter across our region. Be sure to tune in to ABC 22 News and Fox 44 News to catch it in action! You can also watch the video above to get an idea of how it will look on the air... the clip aired during our 6pm newscast on ABC 22 News.